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Bye-bye Baltic Sea

The boat trip with Swanje and Loreley on our rest weekend included a very short stop in Wismar, a charming hanseatic town, boasting some impressive examples of Brick Gothic architecture. In the following hiking days, we visited Wismar two more times; once for lodging and the second time hiking through. A few days later, we had to say goodbye to the Baltic Sea, our steady companion for five months. When we crossed the river Trave in Travemünde, we had also left the region once separated by the Iron Curtain from Western Europe. To relieve the sadness of leaving the Baltic Sea behind, we could enjoy a rest day in the proud city of Lübeck, the queen of all hanseatic towns.

Our first hiking day after the break ended in a town where we couldn’t find any kind of accommodation, as much as we asked around. We took a train to Wismar, where we could stay in a friendly B&B and have a stroll in the historic town centre. On the next day, we reached Wismar again, this time on foot, and had time for a bit more sightseeing:

Between days 144 and 147 of our hike, we had the pleasure of seeing the Baltic Sea from different perspectives – closeby at the beach or high above from beautiful cliffs. Here some impressions of our hike on those days:

When we left the county of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and entered Schleswig-Holstein, all that reminded of the once insurmountable border between East and West Germany was this stone. Good that times have changed!

Our last glimpse of the Baltic Sea was soon followed by the sights of historic sailing boats on the river Trave and the narrow alleys of the old town of Travemünde.

From day 148 onwards until leaving Germany, our trail was going always inland. Finally, we could also follow consistent waymarking again, as several long-distance paths were on our route. We still had our share of water scenery, as we were passing rivers and lakes. These pictures, taken on a single day of hiking from Travemünde to Lübeck, are proof that there is a lot to see along the way:

A bit more tired than expected – a supposedly easy and short hike turned out to be quite long and strenuous – we arrived in Lübeck. In this lively town with rich history, we enjoyed nice weather and impressive sights on day 149, relaxing on our well-deserved rest day.